In fiction, I can explore this safely by framing it within clearly defined terms of real-world harm and focusing on controlled, fictional, or symbolic forms of violence—the kind people encounter in stories —and BDSM can offer emotional release. 'little violence' has a little bit of everything. little violence embodies all kinds of violence, consensual sexual interactions of force and explored boundaries, the violence of having desire rewrite your path and your ideas about you

This year’s reading was rabid, diverse, and orbital — circling identity, grief, transformation, the odd shadow in the woods and a lot of vampire camp. It was a year of robots with souls, vampires with drama, Zen monks, radical cosmic humanity, cult classics, heartbreakingly human librarians, and monsters both literal and metaphorical.